PEACE OR WAR CHOICE VESTED IN CHINESE CABINET

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22826, 22 December 1948, Page 5

PEACE OR WAR CHOICE VESTED IN CHINESE CABINET

Chian? May Resign On Armistice Decision

(N.Z.P.A.—Reuter —Copyright.) (11.30 a.m.) NANKING, Dec. 21. According to an unimpeachable source, General Chiang Kai-shek has placed full power fo choose between peace and war in Dr. Sun Fo's new Cabinet, and will resign as President if the Cabinet decides to seek peace with the Communists, says Ihe United Press correspondent.

This source—a man high in Chinese policy-making circles—said the Cabinet's decision certainly would be to seek a negotiated peace with the Communists.

* He added that either Russian or joint Russian-American mediation probably would be sought in the peace effort.

The question was whether the Communists, in view of their recent sweeping victories, would be willing to settle for anything less than the complete control of China.

Dr. Sun Fo made it clear yesterday that he would accept nothing less than “an honourable peace.’’

Procedure Outlined

The source said that General Criang and Dr. Sun Fo have agreed upon the following procedure: After the formation of Dr. Sun’s Cabinet is completed, which is expected today, and General Chiang has approved of it, the Cabinet will meet immediately to decide whether to undertake peace negotiations with the Communists.

The decision will be in favour of peace. This decision then will be submitted to General Chiang who, technically, still will have power to reject it, although he was said to have assured Dr. Sun that the Cabinet’s wishes would be accepted. General Chiang, if he accepts, will resign at once and may leave China. Should he reverse his present position and reject the peace plan, Dr. Sun’s Cabinet would resign, plunging China into another governmental crisis. Fighting in North China has reached the “final and crucial stage” said the spokesman for the Nationalist Com-mander-in-Chief in North China, General Fu Tso-yi. He declared: “The Nationalists are ready to launch an offensive and the next development will be an annihilating fight towards victory.” Reuter’s correspondent in Tientsin learns that the Communists captured Tangku and Hsinho immediately north of Tangku which are the seaports of Tientsin.

Daring Raid Near Nanking Communist infiltrators today made a hit-and-run attack on the Nationalist positions in the vicinity of Shanyuchin, north-east of Pukow, which is only 10 miles north of Nanking. The raid is described as the most daring yet. Ten Nationalist divisions are now consolidated below the Hwai River with their right flank on the railway awaiting the expected ommunist drive on Nanking. In Peking, the Nationalists counterattacked and drove out the Communists from the south-eastern surburbs after a few hours’ battle in which the Communists are reported to have suffered heavy casualties. The Communist radio today broadcast assurances that the Communists would not use artillery against Peking and Tientsin. The broadcast appealed to the Nationalists to cease “senseless sacrifices in the two isolated cities.

A Shanghai message reports that a United States steamer arrived there today from America with 45 baby tanks for the Chinese Government. The tanks are stated to have been bought by the Chinese Government from private sources in the United States and not to be part of the American military aid programme.